The present invention relates to pancreatin-containing micropellets which can be coated with a gastric juice-resistant film and to their production and to pharmaceutical forms containing pancreatin micropellets of this type.
Pancreatin is an enzyme mixture having amylolytic, lipolytic and proteolytic activity. In cases of pancreatic insufficiency, pancreatin can be employed as a pharmaceutically active compound for treating digestive disorders. Since pancreatin is sensitive to gastric juices, it is preferably administered coated with a gastric juice-resistant film, for example in the form of capsules which contain pancreatin pellets coated in a gastric juice-resistant manner. It is desirable that pancreatin-containing particles of this type coated in a gastric juice-resistant manner be as small as possible in order on the one hand to assure a good distribution of the particles in the chyme and an unhindered passage of the particles through the pylorus and on the other hand to achieve a bulk density of the pancreatin pellets which is as high as possible in order to be able to accommodate as many pancreatin pellets as possible in the capsules per unit of capsule volume.
German Patent No. DE 2,923,279 describes a process for producing pancreatin pellets in which a moldable mass of pancreatin and organic solvents is extruded in an extruding press, and the extrudate is cut up into angular extrudate cuttings which can be rounded off by pelletization with the addition of pancreatin powder.
There remained a need, however, for improved pancreatin micropellets having a high bulk density and a small particle size.